Weekend wrap-up (and a CMT fan with a question), 10/15

This engaging, stylized graphic by pookiesmom94 is the twentieth entry in our "Bucky Covington CD Cover Un-Contest", and it rocks! With just three colors and a lot of creativity, she mixes that classic Idol official tour portrait, a truly fun grunge font, and a well-placed image of a guitar to add up to a cover that all but guarantees that a rowdy good time awaits on the CD inside. Thanks again, pookiesmom94!

(Edited to add: be sure to check out Kathy's recap of the weekend's conference calls at Team Covington tonight. She was lucky enough to be on the line, and she has a lot to say about Bucky's terrific performances Friday and Saturday. A must-read!)

A heads up for those who post at CMT; there's a question from a curious CMT viewer (and Merle Haggard fan, going by the screen name) over in Bucky's thread there that needs answering--he'd like to know what Bucky's main musical influences are. Judging from the set lists this weekend, I'd say his musical influences are a lot more varied and impressive than the little glimpse he gave in his Idol profile. (I'll rave on about how impressed I am with post-Idol Bucky's style below, but for now, it sounds like the CMT thread is about to get interesting. Go help a potential new Bucky fan out!)

Bucky's busy weekend is over, but the reminiscing has only just begun--there are not one, but two Hugo's recap threads happening at the moment, as well as a thread thanking those who made the conference calls possible, and this still-growing thread, which has morphed into a hearty thank-you to lfesvr for sharing her beautiful photo album.

And if you've popped into the play-by-plays for Hugo's or for the Victory Dance benefit, you know what a special weekend of music it was for those who were there--and even for those of us who weren't.

It was also an important weekend of music for Bucky, and for all of us. Until Friday night, only those who were lucky enough to see Bucky and his bands play in his home area had a true sense of who he really is, musically. Not that Idol didn't give a glimpse of Bucky's influences and tastes, but the very restrictive nature of Idol's theme weeks--and the very short list of songs that can be cleared for performance on the show--didn't really allow for a full view of what sort of music Bucky might be bringing to us after the blue neon lights were turned out for the year.

The set lists from this weekend, however, really do paint a thousand words. Now, for the first fun time, a national (actually international--fans from as far away as the UK and Japan listened in) audience got to hear Bucky sing a whole set of songs he chose, songs he loves. We got a little bit of Stones and Bob Seger, a dollop of Brooks and Dunn, a touch of Toby Keith, some Marshall Tucker Band and some Elvis, a dash of saucy fun via the Georgia Satellites, and a breathtakingly sweet new song that has people murmuring "hit" all over the boards.

I said it in comments, and it bears repeating--this weekend, for those of us who plan to follow Bucky's musical journey for the long haul, was like that point in The Wizard of Oz where the black-and-white world ends, and the Technicolor adventure begins. I couldn't be more excited about the road ahead. (And I thought I couldn't possibly be more excited about Bucky's debut CD, but I guess I was wrong...)

So what's next? During Friday's conference call, Bucky mentioned that he'd be headed to Nashville in a couple of weeks to do six tracks for his as-yet-unannounced label, and there may be a Missouri show in the works fairly soon. (No details on this one yet, but stay tuned to this thread--it's a good bet that any solid information will be posted there.) And in the meantime, photos and memories of this weekend will keep rolling in--as they do, I'll do my best to share them with you.

More later!